I’ve been trying lately VMIX for virtual sets, and I came across a number of limitations, which I believe could be solved with the following simple (hopefully) features :

- 1) RGB blur : an option to add an adjustable gaussian or box blur effect to the RGB input itself (to simulate defocus for instance or create blurry backgrounds in the Multiview etc…) If it could also be animated when using the “merge” transition, that would be great to fake DOF changes.

- 2) See Alpha as greyscale : An option to see the alpha of the input as a greyscale image, to fine tune color keying or use as a luma matte in another input.

NB : 1+2 = Alpha blur: by combining the two previous features, you could then use the blur effect on the Alpha only, and by tweaking the levels (black point, white point) simulate erosion or dilation of the edges, soften the key as necessary, soften the edge when cropping an input etc…

- 3) Compositing modes in the Multiview : Screen, Multiply, Darken, lighten, overlay, difference, colour, etc… (the main ones from Photoshop or AE) it would open many creative possibilities to fine tune the composites and achieve better keys by combining multiple alphas and inputs with different settings (core matte + detail matte + garbage matte etc…). It would also help for contact shadows to be composited darker on the ground etc.

- 4) Editable chroma key filter replacement colour : at the moment, when you use the chroma key filter, it replaces the green (or blue etc…) with a neutral grey. It’s nice to avoid green spill, but sometimes it’s not the most appropriate, for instance if used on a darker background you see a definite light fringe/halo around some edges or hair for instance, and thus you must crank the chroma key filter up a notch to make it disappear, thereby losing fine detail in the process. By setting a custom replacement colour, closer to the average composite background colour, one could lower the chroma key filter setting and keep finer details.

IMHO, combining those features would make a dramatic improvement in the quality of vMix chroma keys and composites (virtual sets).

Thanks a lot.
Eric